Senior US and Iranian officials were in Islamabad on Saturday for talks aimed at ending their six-week-old war, although Tehran cast doubt over the negotiations by saying they could not begin without commitments on Lebanon and sanctions.
The US delegation, led by Vice President JD Vance and including President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, arrived in Islamabad on Saturday morning aboard two US Air Force aircraft.
They were received at an air base by Chief of Army Staff (COAS) and Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Field Marshal Asim Munir and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar.
The Iranian delegation, led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, arrived in the Pakistani capital on Friday.
The negotiations follow a two-week ceasefire announced by President Trump after weeks of conflict that saw US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
The meeting is set to mark the highest-level contact between the United States and Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. If both sides hold face-to-face negotiations as expected, it would also be their first direct talks since the 2015 agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme.
